Department of Defense Strategy Documents
The Department of Defense (DoD) publicly issues a series of interconnected high-level strategy documents. These include the National Defense Strategy [PDF] , the National Military Strategy [PDF] and the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) Report , among others. Some documents, such as the 2012 Defense Strategic Guidance [PDF] are one-time publications, rather than being part of series. All Pentagon strategy documents are subordinate to the President's National Security Strategy [PDF]. Recently, the State Department (DoS) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have issued their first quadrennial reviews, modeled on the QDR. DoS has issued a Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR), while DHS issued a Quadrennial Homeland Security Review (QHSR). Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) The 1997 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) required the Secretary of Defense to conduct a comprehensive examination of DoD strategy and the means of implementing it. The 2000 NDAA made this a permanent requirment for the year following presidential elections. The law also requires that the Secretary provide a report on the Review to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees no later than the February following the year in which the Review is conducted. This report, known as the QDR Report, is often referred to simply as the QDR, creating a degree of confusion. The law specifies 16 topics to be addressed in the QDR report, plus an instruction to the Secretary to include any other matters he considers appropriate. The 2008 NDAA added a requirement that the QDR report address the readiness of the armed forces to deal with the consequences of climate change. Other changes to the law have mandated a series of related reports that build on the QDR. These include a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on the extent to which the QDR report complies with the statute governing its contents, a report concerning the impact of the QDR on overseas basing plans, a report by an independent panel evaluating the QDR, and a classified annex to the QDR report describing the methods employed to determine the force structure necessary to execute the Department's strategy.Stephen Daggett, Quadrennial Defense Review 2010: Overview and Implications for National Security Planning, Congressional Research Service, Report R41250, 17 May 2010, 5-8. http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R41250.pdf Relationship to other Pentagon strategy documents The law requires the QDR Report to "delineate a national defense strategy". Whereas the first two QDR Reports (1997 and 2001) included statements of national defense strategy, the 2006 QDR was preceded by the release of a separate National Defense Strategy (NDS) document in 2005. In 2008, the Pentagon again issued a separate NDS in anticipation of the next QDR. In 1995 and again in 1997, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff published reports on the national military strategy of the United States, even though no such report was required by law. Subsequently, the 2004 NDAA established a requirement for the Chairman to publish such reports on a biennal basis, to be delivered on February 15 of every even-numbered year. The National Military Strategy must be consistent with the President's National Security Strategy and the QDR.Ibid., 9-10 References Category:Department of Defense Category:US Government